10 Horror Movies Where NO ONE Is Safe

10. Psycho (1960)

The cornerstone of Hollywood horror, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho has been referenced and revered by directors since it hit screens at the dawn of the 1960s, and despite falling on the wrong side of the Hays Code it still managed to pack in some gruesome kills, full-on scares and paradigm-shifting surprises. 

All three of these elements come together at the end of the first act, as protagonist Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) meets her untimely end. Setting up the entire plot of the film, real estate secretary Marion goes on the run with $40k of her company's cash and check into a motel in the sticks intending to rendezvous with her boyfriend. What she doesn't bank on is the motel's unhinged proprietor Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), who has a split personality and an abundance of silverware. Marion is slain in the shower and the whole film lurches to the right, taking an entirely new narrative path than the one Hitchcock initially set up.

Although not that many people are actually dead by the end of Psycho – with just two on-screen kills – it is the foremost example of being willing to sacrifice any character. When Marion dies, bloody and screaming, in the shower, all bets are off – and no-one is safe.